


Blue Sleep Tale

by Redkammy (Indulgenceahoy)



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Drama, Friendship, Gen, Monster - Freeform, Slow Building Story, Violence in Later Chapters, deleted file
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 16:14:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16245278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indulgenceahoy/pseuds/Redkammy
Summary: One would say that being the only one left of your kind would make you depressed, but Papyrus had never known any other skeletons, so he didn’t have anyone to miss. Besides,he had plenty of supportive friends, a steady job he liked, a nice place to live and plans for the future as a Royal Guard coming together. In fact, his life was quite perfect.The hole he felt in his soul was probably just gas.





	Blue Sleep Tale

To say that Papyrus enjoyed puzzles would be like saying Snowdin was cold all the time. It was just one of those obvious things that -everyone- knew. Even if you just happened to be meeting the tall skeleton for the first time, you would have this knowledge in your head within minutes. Another evident truth about Papyrus is that he loved his brother very, very much.

So, it would not be anywhere near an exaggeration to say that he was -very- worried when the living room clock struck 9 p.m. and his brother had yet to return home. Usually, Papyrus would’ve been down at Grillby’s a couple of hours earlier looking for his errant sibling, but that night he had been distracted. A super TV special: “Live Action Drama With Mettaton – Starring Mettaton” was on. A reenactment of the human/monster war with rather generous re-writing of events to allow for extra parts for robots fond of extravagant costume changes.

Papyrus had been enthralled during the first half of it since it seemed that a LOT of the monster/human war consisted of humans getting into traps only to be bestowed with long monologues from heroic monsters being portrayed by Mettaton and, sometimes, an orange cat monster in some smaller, barely talking parts.

Papyrus had made mental notes on potential traps and puzzles he could use on the humans that surely would appear in Snowdin - any time now. He was perfectly aware that the way humans were portrayed on monster TV wasn’t exactly accurate. Most of the monsters extras didn’t have the correct number of limbs -or limbs at all- and the paper masks they wore with approximate human faces drawn on them, kept falling off or being licked off by the dogs sneaking into the set. Still, it was good information to have, and Papyrus had filled several pages on his notebook with notes and some drawings with modifications of his own. Surely, Sans would find all of this equally fascinating and use it to improve his own puzzles.

However, when the Union mandated break came on, and Papyrus attention returned to the real world, and the empty spot next to him on the couch became almost offensive.

It wasn’t that he had expected Sans to be as excited as him about the show. His older brother had never been much of a fan of Mettaton (UNBELIEVABLE AS THAT WAS ) but he had promised to watch it with him just that morning! Then again, Sans had looked like had a lot of think about that morning and perhaps he had just forgotten.

The tall skeleton tapped his fingers on the couch’s arm and sighed. He got up and put on his red scarf. He would record the rest of the show for the both of them. It was time to go to Grillby’s.

As he walked down the snowy path to the popular monster hangout, the feeling of dread he had been trying really hard to interpret as an annoyance or even frustration, grew stronger. Something felt off despite his best efforts to remain positive.

He wanted to run to Grillby’s and hug his brother even though he couldn’t explain why. He stopped and looked around. At this time of night, the town streets were practically deserted. An eerie silence hung in the air. He rubbed his arm bones and remembered the last time he had seen Sans.

*******

_It had been a little before noon that same day. Papyrus’ rounds had taken him to Sans' post near the Ruins. He had expected the smaller skeleton to be taking his 2nd (or third if he was especially ambitious that day) break nap of the day. He was surprised then, when had Sans not only been awake but standing in front of his post looking towards the Ruins. Papyrus approached Sans without him noticing him until he put a hand on his shoulder, startling him out of his thoughts. The tall skeleton had laughed merrily very proud of his sneaking abilities._

_“NYE HE HE HE BROTHER, YOU REALLY NEED TO WORK ON YOUR OBSERVATION SKILLS!! IF I HAD BEEN A HUMAN, YOU WOULD BE IN A LOT OF TROUBLE!”_

_“you got me, bro,” said Sans smiling._

_“OF COURSE I DID! I PRACTICE MY STEALTH SKILLS EVERY MORNING! JUST_  
_BEFORE MY FIVE MILE JOG”_

_“Yeah…” Sans returned his attention to the Ruins. Curious, Papyrus looked in the same direction trying to discern what was so intent about. After he failed to find anything even remotely of interest, he decided to ask. “IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG?”_

_Sans didn’t respond right away. He sighed and rolled his shoulders back. He did look more tired than normal. Jittery…._

_“Nah. I guess i’m just bone tired”_

_“REALLY BROTHER, YOU NAP ENOUGH FOR THE ENTIRE TOWN”_

_“I’m a_ bonefide _expert at it,” said Sans scratching his chin and winking at his brother._

_Papyrus grunted but the fact that his brother was joking around put him a little at ease._

_“BUT YOU’RE OK, RIGHT?”_

_“Of course I am,” said Sans and his smile becoming more relaxed. “I’m just late for my nap”_

_“BROTHER….”_

_“Just a small one… tiny... “ He winked again. “That … that show you want to see is tonight right? I want to be awake for that”_

_“THAT’S RIGHT!” said Papyrus perking up “SO YOU WANT TO SEE WITH ME?”_

_“I’ll bring the popcorn. Promise”_

_“OK!! I’M REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!” said Papyrus grinning even wider. “I SHALL DO MY ROUNDS TWICE AS QUICKLY, SO I HAVE TIME TO MAKE US BOTH A DOUBLE HELPING OF SPAGHETTI!”_

_“Er… sounds good bro”_

_Papyrus was practically bouncing on his heels as he walked away. Before he reached a turn that would take him out of view, he swiveled around and waved at his brother._

_Sans waved back, smiling his usual smile, and went inside his small wooden post to sleep his usual nap._

******

Everything had been good. Normal.

Then why hadn’t Sans come home yet?

When Papyrus walked into Grillby’s, his eyes immediately went to Sans’ usual spot at the bar. It was empty. He fought back the panic nibbling at him in the back of his skull. Maybe he missed Sans on the way here? Maybe he was back home already.

He looked around and saw a couple of the usual patrons having a quiet conversation in the corner.

Still no Sans.

He decided to ask anyway. Just in case.

Grillby came out of the kitchen carrying a clean rag. He greeted Papyrus with a surprised tone. Papyrus rarely visited Grillby’s by himself.

“HEY GRILLBY,” greeted Papyrus back. He took a deep breath. “HAVE YOU SEEN MY BROTHER?”

Grillby shook his head. “I haven’t seen him all day. I was wondering about that”

Papyrus took another deep breath. “OH, OK”

“It’s everything ok?” asked Grillby noticing the skeleton’s distress. “Are you guys fighting?”

“NO! OF COURSE NOT!” said Papyrus “HE’S JUST LATE COMING HOME. HE PROBABLY FELL ASLEEP AT ONE OF HIS POSTS. YOU KNOW, AS USUAL”

“Yeah ... Do you want help looking for him?” Offered Grillby.

“THANK YOU! BUT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CAN LOOK FOR MY ERRANT BROTHER AND BRING HIM HOME BEFORE ANY OTHER MONSTER!” declared Papyrus. Bravado always helped him feel better.

“Ok, Papyrus,” said Grillby tossing the rag over his shoulder. “Please ask Sans to give me a call when you find him.”

“OK. I WILL” He left Grillby trying not to look as panicked as he felt.

As soon as the door closed behind him, he took off in a run towards the last place he had seen his brother. He figured it was always good to exercise. Yes, that was it. Just exercise.

He reached the post. It was empty. He looked behind the post and found the lantern they kept there for emergencies. When he lighted it, he saw a set of footprints going into the forest. He was eternally grateful that for once, the nightly snowfall had held off. He followed the trail until he reached a clearing about half a mile away.

Wondering what his brother (if those footprints actually belonged to his brother) had been doing in such a place he stepped into the dark area.

“SANS?” he called out. “SANS! ARE YOU HERE?”

He only got the wind traveling through the tree branches as his answer. He frowned. The trail ended there.

In a way, Papyrus was a little glad that he hadn’t found his brother. He couldn’t think of any happy reasons of why he would be in such an out of the way place.

The lantern light wasn't enough for him to have a full look, so he did his best to investigate any suspicious snow piles before turning away. He shuddered when he spotted something blue peeking from under the snow. As he approached it, it became more and more obvious that it was fabric. Fabric like the one his brother’s second favorite jacket was made of. He reached for it and pulled on it. The snow fell away.

Papyrus held his brother’s empty jacket in his hands.

He looked around for other signs of him. He searched snow piles that might be hiding his body.

He called his name until his voice was raw.

It was pitch dark now. He could only see a few feet in front of him.

He looked at the heavy jacket again. It was torn in several spots. A large rip down its back.

_What happened?_

_Where was he?_

_Was he hurt?_

He searched his pockets for his phone. His soul did a flip when he realized he had a missed call. He hadn’t realized that the ringer had been off. OF all the times to…

He fumbled through the notifications. A voicemail. From Sans.

Trembling, he pressed the PLAY button.

_“Sweet dreams bro. I love you.”_

The entire world went dark.

******

Papyrus woke to the sound of Grillby calling his name.

He sleepily looked at the alarm clock next to his head. _OH NO, HE WAS LATE!_

**AGAIN!**

He got up in a hurry and banged his head on the low ceiling. Even after years of having that attic space as a bedroom he still always managed to bang his head against one of the low hanging beams. He grumbled to himself but continued getting into his uniform in a hurry.

After zipping up his pants, he heard Grillby calling him again. He scrambled over to the hatch door on his floor and opened it.

“I’LL BE RIGHT DOWN! I’M SORRY!” he shouted. He saw the fire elemental sigh and shake his head, but his eyes didn’t look angry, so that was a good sign.

Papyrus closed the door and finished getting ready for his early morning shift. He usually didn’t have any trouble getting up early, but he had not been getting a lot of sleep lately. His dreams had been too weird and tiring. He would love to get someone's opinion on what they could possibly mean but he could barely remember that he had dreamt ... something.

OH WELL. No time for that now. He had a restaurant to help get ready for the day. Prep work to be done. Groceries to be picked up. Floors that needed sweeping. Odd jobs that needed to get done. Then at noon head out for his Royal Guard training, only to come back at 6 and help in the kitchen and bus tables. All in all, a very busy day.

Some monsters would call his daily activities “Exhausting”, “Too much”, “Insane”. But keeping busy kept Papyrus happy. He thrived in feeling useful. So monsters let him be and his closer friends kept an eye on him, just in case he showed signs of falling over from exhaustion.

Papyrus poofed out his chest at his reflection in the mirror. Yep, he was ready for the day.

He opened the hatch door again and slid down the ladder that led to his attic room on top of Grillby’s.

He ran past Grillby’s bedroom and made a mental note to remember to pick up the laundry after he was done with the downstairs chores.

He slid down the main stairs banister and jumped off two steps early. Adjusted his apron and walked into the kitchen.

“GOOD MORNING!” he greeted Grillby who was in the middle of bringing in some sack of potatoes for his fries from the basement. "THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS HERE TO HELP!"

**Author's Note:**

> I removed the original posting of this story to a) Let the comic that is based on this catch-up and b) To post it under the same name as my Tumblr to make it easier for people to find.


End file.
